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Solo Exhibition at the Gage Gallery: Thundereggs

VIDEO:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ3aH0OuzhM

Solo Exhibition at the Gage Gallery: Thundereggs, Nov 21 - Dec 9

Thunder eggs, the inspiration for this captivating new series of paintings by Marilyn Chapman, are magical geode-like rock structures with rhyolite shells that contain nodules filled with agate, jasper and crystals. Formed 50 million years ago in bubbles created by volcanic activity, thundereggs are marvels of nature, sought after by rockhounds the world over. Cut and polished, their hidden beauty is revealed. As portrayed in these paintings, no two thundereggs are alike in colour, pattern and design.

According to westcoast legend, these strange agate-filled stones were thunderbolt missiles thrown from the mountaintops by angry thunderbirds and scattered throughout the valleys below.

This series of paintings emerged from a fascination with these ancient earth patterns. Marilyn's painterly enquiry takes a close-up look at these geological structures and presents ideas that evolve through an intuitive perception, connecting the viewer to the strength and resilience of nature from past to present.

Solo Exhibition at the Gage Gallery: Cover Up

Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws_euKSNREI

Exhibit-V Artist of the Month:

http://exhibit-v.blogspot.ca/search/label/Artist%20of%20the%20mont

Recent paintings by artist Marilyn Chapman offer a microscopic snapshot of our modern-day world with all its cover ups, in both the literal and global sense: those that keep us safe and warm and those that mask our truths. Mixed medium conjures up mixed emotion and pushes past the warm and fuzzy into discovery of what may lie beneath. This work was inspired by the traditional symbolism of the old-fashioned patchwork quilt, referenced in the abstractions as a contrast to today’s contemporary cover ups that so greatly impact our lives and our planet.

August 18 - September 3, 2012

Port Metro Vancouver is excited to present Container Art at The Fair at the PNE.

Throughout history, ports around the world have been chronicled by local artists, so don't miss this opportunity to experience this exciting urban, adaptive art exhibit from nine of the most innovative talents of the local artscape.

This year's Container Art Exhibit will be themed around the Port's three pillars- Economy, Environment and Community. Container artists will interpret their relationship to the port through the lens of one or more of the three pillars.

The Port's own container will contain activities and visuals to showcase how the Port brings you goods in a good way.

Port Metro Vancouver is pleased to introduce this talented group via statements of their own work:

Artist: Marilyn Chapman

Name of Installation: Fragile Entanglement

Materials Used: Acrylic paintings on canvas (Sparse Spawn and Golden Spawn), prints of the paintings, display props

Statement:

Originally from the Prairies, I moved to Vancouver in 1980 and then to Vancouver Island in the early 1990's. As an artist, I was immediately inspired by the vibrancy of the City of Vancouver, set within extraordinary raw beauty: scrolls of rainforest foliage, snow-capped mountains, weathered sandstone and driftwood beaches, swirls of sea patterns and repetitive drops of rain. When I paint, I step inside that landscape to represent nature abstractly and organically with all its intricacies. In my latest series of paintings, entitled "Fragile Entanglements", I explore the delicate co-existence of ecosystems, lending an artist's voice to environmental issues and sustainability. My work has been described as an abstract representation of nature, an aerial map of cities and communities and a close-up look inside the human body.

Using acrylics on large canvas, I paint the connective flow of nature... the complex life systems we all rely upon to work silently together. That connective flow of vibrant life is what Vancouver and Canada's west coast mean to me. The existence of such a busy port as Port Metro Vancouver operating amidst such incredible natural beauty fascinates me. Most cities have industrial areas of town, usually grimy, dirty and smelly, but here industry literally sits on top of nature and visitors will certainly tell you, it is pristine! This is truly a magical place, a place with deep-rooted ancestral history, a tradition of people who have depended on the land, yet have always honoured and respected it.

ARTPOST:

Solo Installation, CONTAINER ART AT THE PNE

August 18 - September 3, 2012

Solo Exhibition at the Campbell River Art Gallery: Fragile Entanglements

VIDEO:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3bH8sJNxzs&feature=email

Fragile Entanglements Exhibition

Marilyn Chapman’s exhibit “Fragile Entanglements” opens Thursday night at Campbell River Art Gallery

Meet artist and former Campbell River resident Marilyn Chapman on Thursday for the opening of her exhibit “Fragile Entanglement” at the Campbell River Art Gallery.

Chapman now lives in Victoria and taught in School District 72 for many years. The exhibit was inspired by the extraordinary landscape of Vancouver Island. She sees the scrolls of rainforest foliage, weathered driftwood beaches, swirls of sea patterns and repetitive raindrops, and expresses the inner life that teems beneath the outward vision.

In Fragile Entanglements, Chapman steps inside the landscape to represent nature abstractly and organically. She lends an artist’s eye and a painter’s skill to environmental awareness. Using acrylics on large canvases, she explores the delicate co-existence of ecosystems and the interwoven, complex life systems we rely on.

“I paint in an organic, layering style where blankets of fluid, watery colour are built up on large canvases, superimposed with intricate patterns to represent nature’s delicate detail,” says Chapman. “The resulting abstractions are interwoven, interdependent environments.”

With our modern lives taking awareness away from our dependency on nature, we are often oblivious to the fact that we rely on complex life systems constantly working together at many levels: revolving universes, sunrises and sunsets, tidal ebb and flow, swirls of sea patterns; microcosms and macrocosms. This reality is an essential element of Chapman’s art-making process, calling us to see our role and responsibility within the complex whole.

When Chapman steps inside the landscape to record and represent nature, her journey reveals intricacies rarely acknowledged by the naked eye. Her contemplations unveil an elaborate convergence of organisms and forces and each piece reveals a dynamic, high-density whole.

Chapman’s art studies took place in Manitoba before she left the prairies for the West Coast. She has exhibited extensively in Vancouver and Victoria in numerous shows and tours, as well as in Studio Vogue in Toronto.

Chapman will also be working with local pupils once more – this time leading three school tours at the gallery to discuss her exhibition and take students through a printmaking exercise that will become part of a larger mural or sculptural installation in their schools aimed at increasing environmental awareness.

Thursday’s opening starts at 7 p.m.

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